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Love must be sincere\u2026 Stay excited about your faith as you serve the Lord (Romans 12:9a, 11).

Happy Monday!

Isn\u2019t that just annoying!? I know, some of you love saying that and you really mean it. The rest of us groan when we see you coming on Monday mornings. Granted, as a preacher I didn\u2019t really get the Monday thing until COVID-19. Now I, too, have two-day weekends. I feel very normal. But this Wilderness Wanderings isn\u2019t about Mondays, nor about people who are annoyingly happy on Monday mornings. Its about love. We\u2019re allowing Romans 12 to take us on a deep excursion into the Christian understandings of love. Today\u2019s text may seem a little unrelated, after all, what does \u2018excitement about our faith\u2019 have to do with love?

Well, quite a bit actually. But let\u2019s make sure that we understand what Paul means by this. Some Christians are like flashlights shining in your eyes. They seem to have their Christian throttle fully open all the time. At worship services, they are always mega-hyper and forever attempting to hype up the rest of the body. No matter where they are, they talk about Jesus, whether people want to hear or not. Such folk pray longer and read more scripture than most and always seem to hear directly from God.

Now, if you are or have been such a Christian, hang on for a minute. Here is the point I think Paul is trying to make. A flashlight shining in our eyes makes us close them and look away. Its not a beneficial way to be enthusiastic. Rather, Paul\u2019s image seems to be more like a pot of soup simmering on the stove. The aromas are slowly permeating the whole house. Soon, people\u2019s mouths are watering and stomachs are grumbling. See the difference? One form of enthusiasm closes the senses, the other opens them. One is off putting; the other is attractive. This second is the kind of excitement Paul is advocating.

In his short monologue on love, Paul thus includes this exhortation, \u201cStay excited about your faith as you serve the Lord.\u201d But what\u2019s it got to do with love? Well, loving is difficult work. Remember, it\u2019s a mind set, not always connected to our feelings. To love is an act of the will. We are called to love people who are difficult, people who offend us and, even our enemies.

How can we do this? There are various things that are helpful in keeping up our spiritual excitement. But here, Paul mentions just one, \u2018as you serve the Lord\u2019. This is critical. We don\u2019t love people to get loved back or because they deserve it. No! We love people because we want to serve the Lord. If we are looking for people\u2019s response to our love, we will always be disappointed. But, if we love as an act of service to God, then as Jesus says, God our Father, we give us our reward.

Happy Monday! Staying excited about our faith doesn\u2019t mean we should be annoyingly happy all the time. In fact, being annoying can be a real put off, especially when it is only a fa\xe7ade. But it does mean that we are always eager to serve the Lord by loving other people. Our love should be like soup\u2019s aroma, causing people to want Jesus. You see, our love ought not to attract people to us, rather it ought to point them to Jesus. So, as we begin this new week, let\u2019s check out attitude. Where does it need adjustment? What do we need to do to keep excited about out faith? How will we serve the Lord?

May today be a Happy Monday for you and all those around you.

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